Our ONEderful Little Ladybug

Thank you all for your sweet feedback surrounding my previous post about our gardening adventures!  Between that and birthday celebrations, the summer really flew by.  I'm realizing only just now that I never posted about Jacob's birthday festivities - woops!  Will try to do so soon.  Speaking of his birthday - I looked back at his first bday post when deciding what to title this one, and apparently, we have a "bug" theme going...haha.

There are so many things I could write a blog post about, right now.  Everything in the world just feels heavy; I can feel it all in the pit of my stomach as I write this.  We have experienced things on both personal and global levels that leave us feeling helpless, discouraged, anxious...the list goes on.  It probably doesn't help that we just visited the Auschwitz exhibit at Union Station (I would highly recommend taking the opportunity to experience this, if you're able).  I have not been able to collect my swarming thoughts enough to talk about it all, much less write about it, at this point.  So, instead, I'd like to share something that has brought us joy in the recent past: Lydia's first birthday!

Our sweet baby girl has been such a light in our lives, as well as the lives of those around us - including you, perhaps!  While I am (mostly) saddened by the end of the newborn and baby phases, it is thrilling to watch her personality continue to blossom.  She is learning and trying and showing us new things every day, and it's just so fun!  It's especially sweet to be able to watch it all unfold through Jacob's eyes, as well, and bear witness to their ever-strengthening relationship.

As you likely (safely) assumed if you saw my Facebook post about the celebration, the "ladybug" theme was Pinterest-inspired, and it was executed with the help of Dollar Tree and my Cricut.  I have found I truly enjoy putting together a theme party - not only for the "awe"/"aww" it evokes in guests, but also for the creative processes that go into creating the various elements.  Admittedly, when it comes to crunch time, I can become slightly high-strung and one little thing going awry may send me over the edge.  When I can remember to relax and enjoy the process and the event, however, it truly is a joy.  (It helps, of course, when kiddos nap and/or go to bed on time, so I have ample windows of opportunity to do all this.  Shoutout and huge thanks to my ever-helpful and patient husband who creates space for this, regardless of how the kids' sleeping schedules pan out.)  I have tried to pinpoint who exactly I "do it all" for, and I've had a hard time doing so, because I think I can honestly answer, "Everyone involved."  I thought about the very real possibility of the celebration having only been our little immediate family, and even then, I would have done most all of what I did.  Not only for Lydia's sake, but also for Jacob's, for my own, and for the sake of sharing it virtually with those who couldn't be there.  While that wasn't completely the case, I'm still happy to share with you!  ☺

It all came together even better than I'd imagined.
(Of course, I already had that polka-dot wrapping paper and red bows in my collection.)

♥
Yes, I painted her toes for the occasion.  You're not surprised.

This was a variation on a couple ideas I'd seen, and one guest immediately recognized them for what they were supposed to represent.  Perhaps, given the context, you do, as well.  ;)

Perfect way to use up some of our countless cherry tomatoes!
(Headless ladybugs for those guests who "don't do" olives.)

The cake and cupcakes were an end-of-the-night project, and I'm just "ok" with how they turned out.

There was way more frosting on her smash cake (which Jacob called a "smoosh" cake all week - haha) than I originally intended, but at that point, I thought, "It is what it is," and just went with it.

This is as close as I got to getting a full table-scape picture - haha.
(I'm not sure how to feel admitting that I didn't purchase any of the paper/plasticware for this party, but rather, shopped my stash of clearance purchases...many of which were made years ago.  I'm not the only one who collects these things for "such a time as this," right?)

♥

We tried to get a picture of her with the cake...

...and even though she likely had no idea what it actually was, she was very upset when we took it away to put in a candle.

She was fine once we started singing and even more fine when she got to dig in.

It didn't even occur to me to think about the color contrast drawing her to the black dots, but it did.  She tried one of those first, and reached for every one after that...completely bypassing the red frosting - haha.

I was so tickled by how our guests embraced the theme!
(Those are ladybug crayons!)

Hand-drawn/colored wrapping paper! ♥

I came across these bookmarks in my Amazon search for party favors.  Pretty sure I had one as a kid...

We saved back one present for her to open on her actual birthday.
Needless to say, the gifts were gifts that kept on giving, as Jacob was even more excited than the birthday girl about all the new toys...and this mama was appreciative of the independent playtime it took to explore them all!  ;)

COVID necessitated multiple small celebrations of our birthday girl (still more to come!), and we are totally ok with prolonging the festivities!  One particular additional celebration included an adorable shirt and card made by Nanny Byers and a beautiful (and delicious!) strawberry cake from The Laughing Place Bakery.  (KC locals, be sure to check them out - soooo many yummy things!  They sure make it easy to support local!)

☺

Does this make you drool, or what?!  It was really yummy (and gluten free!).

Thanks, as always, for making it this far!  I hope this has provided a welcome respite from the less-happy content in your feed, in your mind, and in your heart.  We work hard to recognize and embrace the joy around us...and thankfully, there are many times we don't have to look too far for it.

I pray we can all find ways to be a little more like Jesus each day; to spread more love and joy; to eliminate division; to see and consider and have compassion on one another.  May the Lord have mercy on our broken world - past, present, and future - and may we allow Him to use us to mend it.

As joyfully as possible,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

Ted Lasso

stamping weekend

This snack Jacob left for me to enjoy while I taught piano lessons the other day.

I was excited to put up this birthday banner as birthday month kicked off!
The monthly-pictures-with-corresponding-headbands (in rainbow order, of course) was my own original idea. ☺